A thoughtful essay by our member, Hershel Allerhand
Freedom From Two Oppressions
Passover represents freedom from outside oppression; Shavuot represents freedom from internal compulsions.
The oppression of Egypt was both overt and subtle, the tyranny of Pharaoh and the pressure of the dominant culture. We were passive when God liberated us from Pharoah, but freedom from Egyptian culture requires continuous effort. Egyptian culture was pagan then, and in many ways our culture is pagan now. On fundamental issues, such as belief, sin, sex, old age and abortion, the Jewish views differ sharply with the dominant culture; maintaining cultural freedom requires knowledge of our traditions and vigilance in guarding against subconsciously absorbing the assumptions that surround us.
Shavuot deals with internal freedom. The Torah, which by tradition was given to us on Shavuot, teaches that we can control our bodies, thoughts and emotions. We are given rules about sex and food and told that we can learn to love and forego hate, vengeance and envy.
Our sages taught this freedom of self mastery – comes from ‘toiling in the Torah’ but knew that the Torah was not given to angels and did not ask for perfection. But they insisted on a sincere effort. The following quotation from Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch describes the goal: “Judaism teaches how to spend every moment of a life marked by moral freedom, thought, aspirations, creativity and achievement, along with the enjoyment of physical pleasure.”
The Ten Commandments
On Shavuot, the Ten Commandments are chanted with a special trope while the congregation stands, recreating the scene at Mount Sinai. Rabbi Soloveitchik equates the commandments with the physical laws that govern the cosmos. The physical laws deal with nature, the commandments with human society; both are fundamental. The social commandments are not about sin and punishment; they deal with cause and effect. If you defy the law of gravity by jumping from a tall building, the result is not punishment. If you drink to excess, you destroy your liver; consuming too much sugar results in diabetes; these results follow your actions. Similarly, breaking the social commandments will destroy civilization: a society that tolerates murder, theft, adultery, etc. will come apart.
Reasonable people agree with the social commandments, but many question the need for the commandments dealing with God. History proves that the commandments cannot be separated because human beings will rationalize everything. Recently, an insurance executive and a conservative youth leader were murdered in cold blood because the killers felt that they were too evil to live. Many people empathized with the killers. Today, society winks at theft if it’s done by people in need. Commandments which are obeyed because people agree with them are based on quicksand. Perceptions and attitudes change with the times.
The Jewish approach is that we obey the commandments not because we agree with them but because they are the word of God. This is the only sure way to maintain the integrity of the social commandments.
The Covenant
On Shavuot God and Israel renewed the earlier covenant made with the Patriarchs. We became God’s witnesses and thereby an eternal people. Our existence throughout the ages is evidence, however muted, that God exists and works through history.
Nature
When reading and editing the essay above, Liz commented that city dwellers lose sight of the fact that when all is said and done, Shavuot is an agricultural holiday. It commemorates the summer wheat harvest. One name for Shavuot is Hag Hagatsir (harvest festival), so a successful harvest to all.